Aflac Incorporated $AFL Position Reduced by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 26.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 51,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 18,442 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Aflac were worth $5,423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC grew its stake in Aflac by 1.4% in the second quarter. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC now owns 141,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,973,000 after purchasing an additional 2,001 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,875,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 95,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,074,000 after acquiring an additional 8,313 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aflac by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 52,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,559,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aflac in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,036,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 786 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.75, for a total transaction of $89,407.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 24,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,824,298.75. This trade represents a 3.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 15,862 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.00, for a total value of $1,776,544.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 230,688 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,837,056. This trade represents a 6.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 22,822 shares of company stock worth $2,571,002 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

AFL stock opened at $110.66 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.20. The company has a market capitalization of $58.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.09, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Aflac Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $96.95 and a fifty-two week high of $115.83.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter. Aflac had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 15.08%. Sell-side analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AFL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Aflac from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Aflac from $113.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Aflac in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Aflac from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aflac from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $111.00.

Aflac Company Profile

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. The company operates through Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. segments. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care, work leave, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan.